


Sixteen

by orphan_account



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-28
Updated: 2010-11-28
Packaged: 2017-11-14 08:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/513138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Interesting (not to mention convenient) time for my PoT muse to crawl out of the hole it's been hiding in for about three years now. It’s my favorite character’s birthday today. Happy birthday, Eiji!! ^_^ Also, Shin PoT readers should treat this as an AU if anything is inaccurate (the whole damn thing probably is.) I am far behind on canon. That is all.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Sixteen

**Author's Note:**

> Interesting (not to mention convenient) time for my PoT muse to crawl out of the hole it's been hiding in for about three years now. It’s my favorite character’s birthday today. Happy birthday, Eiji!! ^_^ Also, Shin PoT readers should treat this as an AU if anything is inaccurate (the whole damn thing probably is.) I am far behind on canon. That is all.

Eiji was a couple of months into his second year of high school, and for him things were not all that different from any other year of school. He was still getting the same sort of grades, which didn’t impress his parents, but they were good enough to keep them off his back. At least he was doing better than his brother Hikaru, who would have gotten private tutoring in mathematics if his deficiency wasn’t due to pure laziness. Besides, Eiji also kept himself busy with tennis, not finding it too difficult to make the regulars again, though it wasn’t quite the same given. His senpai-tachi was hard on him, but kept him around mostly because even Seigaku’s high school team’s biggest hole was doubles. It was a hole he and Oishi fit snugly in, thanks. 

Still, he couldn’t help but miss the way it used to be. In his last year of middle school he felt a real connection with every person on the team, not just Oishi. Taka-san no longer played tennis. Echizen was still in middle school. Momo and Kaidoh were not allowed on the regulars because they were freshmen, but they were easily two of the best players there. If Tezuka could give Echizen a spot on the middle school’s regulars then what was keeping his own captain from giving Momo and Kaidoh a chance? 

That didn’t stop Eiji from hanging out with Momo. He sometimes teased his junior about being a ball boy again, and then was duped into buying a mountain of burgers for him at the end of practice. Momo insisted that it was fuel for the strength he’d need to impress his new senpai-tachi, and Kaidoh insisted that Momo was a moron. Then they fought about it. Some things never changed.

Still, Eiji thought, laying in bed and staring at the one sliver of light beaming through the crack of his window shades. It would be nice if everything went back to the way it was, even for just a day. Maybe such a thought was silly. 

Before he could mull over it anymore his alarm clock started to buzz. He didn’t usually wake up before the buzz, but he was feeling decidedly unsettled this morning. It was a Monday morning. It was also his birthday. Monday birthdays were not fair and deserved to be banned from existence. 

\---

“Good morning, Eiji,” said his sister Tatsuki from the stove. She looked like she was preparing to cook breakfast, taking out the eggs, vegetables diced from the previous night, cheese, and leftover meat. He scooted her out of the way and took over, seeing as he was the much better cook of the two. She seemed to have it in her head that no one should have to do chores on their birthday, but cooking wasn’t a chore to him. Washing dishes was, though.

“You should let me do it,” she said. “Go relax and watch T.V. for a bit.” 

“There’s only stupid kids show on right now,” said Eiji, cracking the eggs and beating them with a nimble wrist. He was starting to get into his zone, though he did wonder for a moment if Pokemon had reached its thousandth episode yet. Somehow that wouldn’t surprise him. 

“You could watch the morning news. You’re all grown up now, after all.” 

“That’s boring.” He dumped the veggies and meat into the egg mixture and poured it all into the oiled skillet. 

“So picky.” 

When Eiji finished cooking he graciously offered to let Tatsuki do the dishes if she was feeling so inclined to keep him from doing chores on his special day. However, she just had to drag the Kikumaru family’s general rule into it: you cook, you clean. Nice to know that her altruism only went so far. 

“What’s with that look? I’m only teasing,” she said, ruffling his hair on the way to the sink. He hadn’t taken the time to style it just yet, so it was sticking out at weird angles and needed a comb run through it like no one’s business. Even so, he growled at her through bites of egg, but decided that the mistreatment of his hair could be forgiven only because she was doing the dishes after all. He would have made her an omelette, too, but she would have made a big stink about there being yolks in it. She supposedly had to watch her figure for the eighty bajillionth time, not that she ever gained a pound no matter what she did. 

After breakfast he threw his school clothes on and fixed up his hair. It wasn’t cooperating at first, but it was his own fault for taking a bath too late the previous evening and going to bed with wet hair. That essay he had wasn’t going to write itself, though, so he had to finish it while he was putting any thought into it, or else it would have been frustrating. He supposed his grades were more important than his hair. 

“Hurry up, Eiji! You’re taking forever and we’re gonna be late,” Hikaru shouted from outside the bathroom. He had no right to bitch at Eiji about tardiness, considering that he was a grand master at mashing the snooze button. Eiji barely got his hair looking the way he wanted it to, though a few stray strands still gave him a hard time. It didn’t matter all that much, though. It was a Monday. No one ever prepared for Mondays. It was also his birthday. His hair could look like shit if he wanted it to. 

\---

He and Hikaru arrived late. Approximately 2.6 minutes late by Inui’s count, though why Inui was counting was well beyond him. They ran 20 laps together. His brother was part of the club as well. Eiji wasn’t the only tennis fanatic in the family apparently, but he was definitely the best player. After all, he was on the regulars, but Hikaru was still trying to figure out the game. He had only been part of the club for two months after quitting soccer, because he decided that he hated soccer. He also hated basket ball, base ball, track, hockey, American football, and who knows what else. It was only a matter of time before he quit tennis, too. Eiji certainly wasn’t giving him any incentive to stay. Who wants to be bested by their little brother anyway?

Unless Hikaru was planning on besting Eiji, which was impossible. It would take years of practice, and he would need a doubles partner. If he wanted to face Eiji at full power then that wasn’t going to happen in singles, even if Eiji could sweep the floor with him at singles 6-0 in his current state. 

“Ne, Hikachu. What did you get me for my birthday, huh?” 

“Oh, it’s your birthday?” 

“You know it’s my birthday, moron!” 

“Time sure does fly. Eiji’s turning thirteen already.”

“Sixteen!” 

“Whatever.” 

Eiji was sorely tempted to run just far enough ahead so that he could trip his brother, but he’d be assigned like fifty more laps if he did that. Momo and Kaidoh got assigned laps almost every day for bickering. It was always Tezuka-fukubuchou who assigned them, too, perhaps out of nostalgia, or desire to reclaim his throne eventually. Either way, it was funny. The time they wasted fighting could be put into proving themselves to their senpai-tachi, but somehow they preferred fighting. 

They were morons.

Once Eiji completed his run he plopped down on the bench and took about ten swigs of water. He hadn’t had anything to drink with breakfast, which was generally a bad idea, but he remembered to eat at least. He fell asleep during class the one time he forgot to eat breakfast, and was given after school detention because of it, making him a half an hour late to tennis practice. He was punished with both laps and Inui juice. The laps for tardiness, and the Inui juice for failing to replenish himself properly (thanks a lot for elaborating, Fuji.) Never again.

“Good morning, Eiji.”

Speak of the devil, Fuji stood right before him, smiling almost as though it was his own birthday. Speaking of which, he just remembered something awful. They had a test today. Eiji didn’t study for it. Maybe his teacher would give him an A just for bothering to show up on his birthday. Then maybe his teacher would climb onto his desk in only his underwear and start bellowing the catchiest J-pop tunes at the top of his lungs. The thought of that amused him, because the thought of his test certainly didn’t.

“Damn it!” said Eiji, grabbing his racket and stomping toward the closest available court. There was nothing special planned for that day, so he and Fuji just rallied off for the hell of it. 

“The test today will be easy,” said Fuji, aiming for the corner at the base. Eiji dashed toward it and returned with a lob. 

“There should be a rule. Like, no one should have to do tests on their birthday.” 

“Oh, it’s your birthday?” 

Fuji returned toward the base. This time Eiji missed. 

“You did that on purpose. Cheater!” said Eiji, knowing damn well that Fuji knew it was his birthday. Fuji knew everything. He probably even overheard him and Hikaru while they were running laps. 

“Sorry, sorry.” Fuji wasn’t sorry.

\---

Eiji’s first period test was really hard, and he was the last one to finish. His teacher even yelled at him for being slow. He almost thought he’d get detention again, but he managed to pass in his test with only one or two questions left blank. Maybe he passed. Or maybe he’d get a good enough grade on his essay to make up for it. He could only hope.

When lunchtime rolled around someone with the flu hurled audibly all over the table halfway across the lunchroom, and Eiji lost his appetite. Most of the food they were serving that day was nasty anyway. Eiji probably would have gotten sick, too. 

So he went outside to get some fresh air, only to catch some delinquents smoking. They offered him one, but Eiji shook his head and moved on. He hoped his clothes wouldn’t smell like that later, because his mom would freak out. Hikaru tried smoking once, and she accused him of bringing cancer into the house. She could overreact like that sometimes. 

Then he made it to tennis practice where his so-called friends were. Some random people in his class wished him a happy birthday, but no one on his team did. He decided that it really didn’t matter. Maybe he had gotten too old for birthdays. Turning sixteen wasn’t that big a deal. He still couldn’t purchase alcohol or anything legally, so it wasn’t any sort of milestone. It was pretty much like any other day, except it was Monday, he had bombed a test, skipped lunch, and got cigarette smoke on his school uniform. 

“Eiji, you seem distracted today. Is everything all right?” said Oishi, finally bothering to speak to him today. He spent a good chunk of the morning conversing with Tezuka, well, mostly while Eiji was doing laps, but still. Then he never bothered to walk over and wish Eiji a happy birthday. Oishi of all people. And he was supposed to be the considerate one. 

“What? I’m not distracted,” said Eiji, aligning himself into the Australian Formation. They were supposed to be showing Watanabe-senpai and Hayashi-senpai how it was done. Eiji managed to confuse them and Oishi took most of the points. His stamina didn’t take a very hard hit, but his knee did during one fall. It was a careless mistake, but Eiji refused to quit until they were done. Afterward Oishi took him into the club room and helped him dress his wound. 

“I wasn’t distracted.” 

Eiji’s claim didn’t convince either of them, and he winced when a blast of cooling spray hit his wounded knee. 

“Don’t worry about it,” said Oishi, smiling fondly at his doubles partner. “You shouldn’t let something like this upset you. It’s your birthday, after all.” 

It’s about time someone remembered! At least, that’s what Eiji wanted to say, but he didn’t want Oishi to know that it was sort of bothering him, or else Oishi would make a big deal out of it. It wasn’t a big deal. Maybe a little annoying. Maybe it made him question who his real friends were. Although it was probably just every other stupid thing that happened all day that was bothering him, making everything else seem worse than it actually was. He was tired of thinking about it. 

“I’m not upset.” 

He wasn’t. At least, after a moment to recharge he wouldn’t be. The countdown started on their way back to the courts.

Surely Oishi wasn’t the only one who remembered. 

\---

“Sorry, Eiji-senpai. I forgot. My mom wants me to clean my room today, so I can’t go out for burgers,” said Momo, patting his stomach longingly. 

“That’s not the only thing you forgot,” Eiji grumbled, having looked forward to some part of his day that he could call decent. Burgers with Momo usually perked him up, even if the lightened weight of his wallet didn’t. He was lucky he got a good allowance. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Nothing. Forget I said anything.” 

Eiji walked away from his bewildered, so-called friend. It was truly stupid to let something like this bother him. Then again, was it so much to ask to be remembered? His birthday fell on a weekend the previous year, and he was sick on the one before that one. He was starting to sense a pattern. This would be the year that everyone forgot him. Was this a milestone after all? The point in his life where everyone forgets his birthday (well, everyone except for Oishi, because it was Oishi, and Fuji, because it was Fuji.) 

He felt like an old man. Feeling like an old man sucked. 

“Eiji,” said Oishi, stopping him on his way home. He didn’t have anything better to do than to just go home and do his homework, or some boring shit like that. If he was an old man now then he had to be responsible, or something. 

“What is it?” 

“You look like you could use some cheering up. Why don’t we head to the pet store and visit Hiki-chan?” 

“How do you know about Hiki-chan?” Eiji had a particular affinity toward amphibians and reptiles these days. He thought it was funny when girls (and apparently Hyotei boys) got creeped out by them. Eiji thought they were just too cool. He wished he could come to school with Hiki-chan on his shoulder.

“You like watching Hiki-chan eat crickets. You told me.” 

That did sound like the sort of off-hand thing he’d tell Oishi. Even so.

“Nah. I’m just gonna go home. I don’t feel like doing anything.” 

That came off far more depressed than he had meant it to. He should have said something more impressive, like he was going to get started on his history project early, or something. Oishi wouldn’t have believed him, though. Sometimes being known so well could be really troublesome. 

“Wait a minute,” said Oishi, placing his hand on Eiji’s shoulder. Eiji was half-tempted to shrug it off, knowing exactly where this was going. Oishi liked to talk about feelings and stuff. Eiji did not. He was feeling an awful lot like going home, burying himself underneath his covers, and not coming out until the next day. That way it didn’t matter if anyone thought of him, because tomorrow wouldn’t be his birthday. Problem solved. 

“Eiji, will you take a walk with me? Please?” 

Oishi was dead-set on keeping Eiji in his company at the moment, and since he asked so nicely Eiji supposed a short walk wouldn’t hurt. Oishi had a bad habit of taking way too much to heart. Not to mention the sun was setting early this time of year, and it was cold. He didn’t grab a warm enough coat on the way out, which didn’t matter earlier because he was plenty warm after running to school with Hikaru, then running laps. Now he was starting to regret it. 

“This way,” said Oishi, taking his partner’s hand. Eiji didn’t realize just how cold his fingers felt until they were wrapped in Oishi’s hand, rough and calloused from prolonged use of a tennis racket. That was all right, because Eiji’s hands were in much the same state. Not to mention he had his share of battle scars, so he liked to call them. He didn’t know how many times he’d scrapped, cut, or bruised his knees and elbows, arms and legs. He had to get stitches above his left eyebrow once, which was the facial scar he chose not to hide with a bandage. It was small, and besides, it wasn’t even tennis related, though he’d lie and say he had acquired it through an epic tennis battle to the death. What really happened was that he cut his head against a nail protruding from the wood frame of his previous bed. He was damn lucky it nicked his brow and not his eye. His dad finally listened to him, took the bunkbeds apart, and bought him and Hikaru new twin sized beds after that.

The one he had on his right cheek since his second year at middle school had a jagged scar, from when he got into a fist fight with one of his seniors. He fell back, and his cheek was nearly cut open straight through along a rusted opening in the chain-linked fence. 

Eiji had never seen Oishi more pissed in his life. Had he been his normal self, Oishi would have rushed over and tended to him. Instead Oishi flipped out and gave their senpai a black eye. Oishi and their senpai were punished, and Eiji was taken to the hospital. He needed eight stitches, and the scar it left behind was just ugly. 

Even after three years Eiji kept a bandage over it. It wasn’t nearly as unsightly as it used to be, but it was still a reminder of how embarrassing that day was. How his idiot, jealous senpai could get him rushed off to the hospital. How Oishi felt the need to step in and finish the fight. Stupid Oishi got himself in trouble on Eiji’s behalf. 

Well, in a way, that part was kind of cool. Eiji never knew that Oishi had it in him. And he had to admit, Eiji may have done the same thing if that had happened to Oishi. It was just a sting on his pride. Eiji could have still taken that jerk. He just wasn’t able to gather his bearings in time, since his senpai did punch him in the head really hard. 

Oishi’s parents were so upset, too, but he wouldn’t tell them why he had done it. If he did then they would think that Eiji was a troublemaker, and they wouldn’t be able to hang out and be doubles partners anymore. Somehow Eiji’s friendship had become more valuable to Oishi than his parents’s approval. 

It wasn’t long before that became true in more ways than one.

The bin where they had once reflected on their losses had since been removed, so they had to find a different special place to be alone together. There was a hidden path through the woods in the park that ran along side a large puddle that never seemed to evaporate, so frogs and turtles and stuff had come to live in it. It wasn’t big enough to be a pond, and it wasn’t slimy and leechy enough to be a swamp. It was just water. Eiji could almost see the stars reflected in it.

They stopped at a large rock that overlooked the small body of water and climbed up. It was just big enough for two, but it was really, really cold beneath Eiji’s bottom. 

Not a moment later Oishi lent over and kissed him. Eiji forgot all about being cold for awhile.

\---

Eiji supposed his birthday could have been worse. Again, he wasn’t sick, and he wasn’t stuck at home with the family, so it was better than his last two birthdays at least. Still, he wondered why it was that so many of his friends forgot his birthday. He never forgot any of their birthdays. Heck, for the past two years he even made an effort on Christmas Eve to stop at Echizen’s house and hug the stuffing out of him, though that was mostly because Momo didn’t want to do that by himself. Eiji also never passed up an opportunity to squeeze Ochibi because he was very squeezable, even when he got taller. 

That just made Oishi’s company all the better, though. Eiji didn’t like to admit that he needed some cheering up, but he really did, and Oishi insisted on it. Oishi was good like that. So good that they held hands all the way back to Eiji’s house, no matter what passing onlookers may think. Screw them.

When they reached the door Eiji found it strange that all of the shades and curtains were drawn, even though the lights were all on. It wasn’t all that late, even if the pitch black sky suggested otherwise. It was full of stars, too. Eiji could recall a few of the constellations that his science teacher taught them all about, which made him really proud. That, and the stars were so much brighter in the winter season. 

“Are you ready to head inside?” said Oishi, placing his hands on Eiji’s shoulders. The two of them looked around, and when they found that no one was watching they kissed one last time. 

“Thank you, Oishi.” 

“For what?” 

“You made my day better, but you always do that.” 

Oishi would do it one last time, too. He grabbed the knob of the Kikumaru household and opened up the door, leading Eiji inside. Eiji didn’t know why Oishi was following him, at least until they reached the living room. 

“SURPRISE!” 

Eiji was completely taken aback by what he saw. There were balloons and streamers and party hats and all of his friends. All of the regulars from the high school team, as well as the ones from his old middle school were there. There was Taka-san and an enormous plate of sushi. There was Fuji and his sister Yumiko with mirrored smiles and an huge, shiny present between them. There was Momo and Kaidoh, with Echizen sitting between them to keep them from killing each other. He looked most unamused, and he had a party hat, a stick-on tattoo of a bunny rabbit on one of his cheeks, and about ten Hawaiian leis hanging around his neck. Momo blow a noise maker which slapped Echizen in the bunny. Inui and Tezuka were sitting together, Inui with a notebook propped upon his lap, Tezuka almost but not quite smiling. Even the old ichinen trio, Kachiro, Katsuo, and Horio (who were technically seniors now) were there. They were probably duped into doing most of the decorating. 

All of his siblings were off to the side, but his mom came out of nowhere and hugged and kissed him on the cheek in front of all of his friends, which was kind of embarrassing, but no one seemed to care. 

“Happy birthday, Eiji.” 

Everyone remembered after all.

\---

It really did feel like old times being in the same room with all of the guys. They ate cake and sushi, talked about tennis, cats, lolcats, bowling, Inui juice, and what they’d do if they woke up one day and discovered that they had super powers, and which ones they would have. If Eiji had a choice he’d choose to fly, obviously. If Echizen had a choice he’d choose to disappear, because he was sick to death of Momo hanging leis around his neck and dumping glitter and confetti on him. It got even worse when Eiji started to help. 

By proxy Kaidoh wound up with a considerable amount of glitter and confetti in his own hair, and he punched Momo in the face because of it. Once that broke out Eiji and Echizen walked over to Fuji and Taka and hung out with them for awhile instead. 

The enormous box that Fuji and Yumiko wrapped Eiji’s present in was just a gimmick. When he opened the box it was like 99% packing peanuts (Inui corrected him in saying that it was actually 89% packing peanuts, but who really paid that close attention?) Inside was a photo album. 

Somehow Fuji had figured out that Eiji was feeling decidedly nostalgic, so he found as many photos from Seigaku’s old tennis team that he could. At least half of the photos weren’t actually taken by Fuji. Some came from magazine articles. Some came from rival teams. Eiji guessed the one or two photos of him falling down and hurting himself was from some jerk like Mukahi, or Niou, or something. Fuji wouldn’t tell him, though. It was the book of Eiji’s evolution. Many of the pictures also had Oishi in them, of course. 

He passed it around to everyone who cared to look at it. Somehow Tezuka was the one who took the longest time looking at it. Well, it was in Tezuka’s lap at least, but Inui was the one glancing at it, uttering things and taking notes. That guy never let up, but as long as he wasn’t dangling some toxic concoction underneath Eiji’s nose it was all good. 

Watanabe-senpai commented that Eiji was lucky to have such good friends, and he couldn’t agree more. 

\---

Since the party was on a school night they all had to leave early, but Eiji was just happy that they all came. Fuji and Oishi stayed behind to help his brothers and sisters clean up, while Eiji was sent off to take a bath. Somehow while Momo and Kaidoh were fighting (again) a slice of cake wound up bouncing off of Eiji’s head. That was another reason they all had to leave early, because Eiji would have kicked both of their asses had Oishi not held him back. His mother scolded him for his foul language, saying that it just wasn’t suitable coming from her baby. Everyone laughed. Even at sixteen he was her baby. None of his other brothers and sisters were her baby. How annoying. 

Even so, he didn’t let that ruin his good day. He felt relieved that all of his friends remembered him, and would have to make up the favor to the mastermind behind it all, because there definitely was one. 

END


End file.
